FLINT, Michigan - Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell told the county Board of Commissioners Wednesday that he's worried about the elimination of probation officers in Flint District Court and the effect it will have on jail overcrowding.

"That's' not going to help the jail overcrowding," Pickell said later. "People who would normally be put on probation -- they are going to put them in jail or on work release.
"We already have an overcrowding problem," he said. "This may only add to it."

Miles Gadola, one of the five probation officers laid off in the cut, said it's unclear what will happen to those sentenced to probation after the layoffs take effect July 1.

"We don't have any directive about what we are supposed to do with these individuals," after that time, said Gadola, a county commissioner from Grand Blanc. "Does the probation just expire, or does it just go to unsupervised probation?"

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Court hearing:

• The Flint City Council's budget is headed to court.

Don Williamson

• A hearing is scheduled at 2 p.m. Monday before District Judge Archie Hayman.

• Mayor Don Williamson is asking that the 2008-09 budget, which would go into effect July 1, not go into effect while the mayor's lawsuit against the council is pending.

District Judge Archie Hayman wrote a letter to the Flint City Council opposing the cutbacks to the court. He wrote that a total of 30 employees were laid off.

"I continue my strong opposition to this budget and urge council to reconsider its position," Hayman wrote.

Councilman Scott Kincaid said the court is funded similar to how it operated under the state emergency financial takeover in 2003-04.

"We needed money for police, fire and the (city) jail," Kincaid said. "I would be willing to meet with the judge."

The council eliminated 46 police positions and reduced the jail to part time.

The budget proposed by Mayor Don Williamson also deeply slashed money for the court.

Kincaid said the council cut an additional $80,000 or so.

Councilman Ehren Gonzales, who voted against the budget, said the council's budget makes impractical cutbacks.

Scott Kincaid

Ehren Gonzales

"I didn't support it because I knew things like this would happen," Gonzales said.
Probation officers make sure those sentenced in Flint District Court on charges like domestic violence, drunken driving or aggravated assault do what judges order them to when they are sentenced.

Probation officers routinely hear from other agencies when probationers miss appointments and complete reports for the Flint District Court judges.

Agents have handled a few hundred probationers each, Gadola said.

"I've been there 18 years ... It's never got to this point," he said. "We've had lower numbers of agents (but) there's always been other remedies other than jettisoning the whole department."